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11-storey apartment building approved despite objections

St. Catharines city councillors approved an 11-storey, 124-unit apartment building Monday night over the objections of neighbours, who said it’s too tall, will clog nearby streets and cause parking havoc.

Only ward councillors Peter Secord and Greg Washuta voted against the development, which is to be built on three residential lots on Carlton St. just west of Niagara.

The three rental houses currently on the site will be demolished.

The apartment complex will feature two levels of underground parking and about 4,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Owner Veronica Balaj had sought to include 10,000 square feet of commercial space, but city planner James Riddell recommended less.

Niagara St. neighbour Martin Litke told councillors the proposed building is too tall, and said he prefers the four-storey building that was originally approved for the site.

Rev. Leo Clutterbuck, the priest of St. Alfred’s Roman Catholic Church, opposed the development, too, saying the church parking lot is already being used by customers of commercial businesses and visitors to nearby apartment buildings.

“This unwanted parking has, on many occasions, interfered with parking for parishioners coming for Divine Liturgy,” Clutterbuck wrote in a letter to council. “During snow removal of the parking lot, cars have, in the past, been towed.”

One driver even sued the church for the cost of towing his car, he wrote.

Stanley St. resident Ann Huibers objected to the height of the building, to the shadows it would cast on her property and to the increased traffic.

“As there are many children living nearby, an additional volume of cars coming in and out would make the area far more dangerous for pedestrians, especially young children,” she wrote in a letter to council.

But city planner Jamie Riddell told councillors the nearby streets can handle the increased traffic flow, and the building’s location on major bus routes and near the new pool and library makes it a good place for intensification. He said there is enough parking being provided on site and the developer will have to provide a landscape buffer.

Architect David Choi said the visual impact of the building will be reduced by the use of a wider base for the first floors and a narrower tower rising above.

Secord complained about the amount of vacant commercial space in existing buildings, but his effort to have the commercial component removed from the development was defeated.

Washuta said he was also opposed, calling the apartment building “an over-development of this site.”